A brake assembly typically includes a brake caliper with a piston bore that is adapted to support a brake piston. The brake piston is adapted to move a brake pad against a moving component to create a clamping force. The clamping force may be used to slow, stop, or prevent movement of the moving component. In vehicular applications, the moving component may be a brake rotor.
Over time, the brake pad may wear unevenly—for example, where one edge of the brake pad wears more than another edge. Such uneven brake pad wear may cause the brake piston to cock or jam inside the piston bore, which may cause the brake piston to contact a surface of the piston bore, which may lead to undesirable noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) issues; may cause the brake piston and/or the piston bore to prematurely wear; ands or may even cause the brake piston to seize inside the piston bore.
Moreover, during manufacturing and/or assembly of the brake assembly, the piston bore, and/or the brake piston, tight tolerances including perpendicularlity, flatness, and parallelism must be maintained in order to prevent or reduce chances of the brake piston contacting a surface of the piston bore, or the brake piston cocking or jamming inside the piston bore.
It may therefore be desirable to improve the current state of the art by providing a brake piston that can accommodate uneven brake pad wear and thus prevent or reduce chances of the brake piston contacting the piston bore; and/or prevent or reduce chances of the brake piston cocking or jamming inside the piston bore. By providing such a brake piston, undesirable noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) issues may be reduced or prevented; brake piston and/or the piston bore wear may be reduced or prevented; and/or chances of a brake piston jamming or seizing in a piston bore may be reduced or prevented.
It may also be desirable to improve the current state of the art by providing a brake piston that can accommodate manufacturing and/or assembly tolerances and/or fluctuations in perpendicularity, flatness, and/or parallelism of the brake piston and/or caliper bore.